We chat with author Alice Bell about Displeasure Island, which is the hilarious follow-up to Grave Expectations where Claire and the gang are back, getting their timbers shivered by a mystery involving feuding ghost pirates, buried treasure, and murder…
Hi, Alice! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m an embarrassing nerd who grew up in the middle of the countryside (like, sheep lived in the field next door to my house and the village flooded every winter kind of countryside) in England. As if in rebellion against this, I grew up really liking video games and comics and things. But also Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. If there really are two wolves inside everyone, one of mine is an old lady who lives in a cottage and solves crimes on the downtime from her knitting, and the other is an elven wizard. I have lived in London, Devon and Brighton, but now I live in Cork in Ireland.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was quite dissatisfied with my life from a young age, and was the proverbial neglected middle child. From the age of about 9 I started reading all the books that were left within reach on the lower shelves, which was a mix of Terry Pratchett, Tamora Pierce’s Wild Magic series, and ‘Orrible Murder (a collection of sensational and gruesomely illustrated stories taken from the Illustrated Police News, a Victorian tabloid newspaper). I remember the first thing I started writing was a magical adventure with species of cat people, winged angel lads, and magical green-eyed elves all competing to reach a magical tower. I gave it to the school librarian. It was very bad, but she was very nice about it. Librarians should be treasured.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Five On Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
- The one that made you want to become an author: Murder At The Vicarage by Agatha Christie
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
Displeasure Island is the second installment in your Grave Expectations series and it’s out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Very silly haunted island capers
What can readers expect from the sequel?
I suppose it’s not actually silly, having said that. It’s a bit silly. The first book, Grave Expectations, was more character based. This time the characters are shaken up and put in a pressure cooker situation: a closed loop murder mystery on a haunted island. They’re supposed to be on a nice holiday in a newly built bougie hotel, but the main character, Claire, has a big anxiety spiral about her friends not really liking her. This includes Sophie, her dead best mate who has been haunting her since she’s a teenager, and it’s not convenient to be in a strop with someone when you can’t really get more than 200 yards from each other. At the same time, Claire sort of embarks on a romance, while everyone is in peril and trapped on an island populated by dead pirates and Irish rebels. Nobody in it is very sensible, including the murderer. I think the focus this time is more on the mystery, but the characters still manage to grab the wheel quite a lot.
Where did the inspiration for Displeasure Island come from?
I’m a hack, so I am inspired by things I can see from my bedroom window. The island of the title is Spike Island, an old prison island sometimes called Ireland’s Alcatraz. It had a fort built on it by the English because it’s in a position of strategic importance in Cork harbour, and the fort was converted into a prison that was only closed in 2004. The bougie hotel in the book is written as being a conversion of the derelict little town buildings, which you can look around still. Spike Island has, according to legend, accrued many a ghost, so when I was writing this book and trying to come up with my own haunted island, it seemed more efficient to just use the one on my doorstep.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring further?
Displeasure Island has my favourite character ever in it, a skeleton ghost who can’t talk, so communicates through complicated mime. He’s called Mister Bones, and I love him. One of my editors asked why he can see and hear but not speak, and I said, ‘Because it’s more fun.’
In terms of writing, I enjoyed tracing how Claire would feel about having actual friends. She doesn’t hold down long relationships with people because she’s constantly followed around by a dead 17-year-old, and at the end of Grave Expectations she and Sophie suddenly had a found family. So I liked exploring how fragile that might actually feel, and the sort of self-sabotage that is anxiety.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing the sequel?
Oh my God, the first draft was absolutely terrible. I’m surprised my contract wasn’t torn up. I wrote a lot of it while I was very down myself, which made the book come out depressing and not fun. The editors were very kind about it (I think my edit letter even said ‘congrats! It’s a book!’ which is very funny in hindsight). I gave it a HUGE edit, cut two characters entirely, moved everything around and just made it more fun. People have said they like it more than the first book, which is very gratifying.
Because the mystery in Displeasure Island is a bit more of a traditional mystery (ghosts notwithstanding) it required the plotting to be a bit more meticulous, as well. I know some writers have like a whole proper colour-coded spreadsheet and things like that, but my mind is not organised enough to work like that.
What’s next for you?
I’m writing the third book in the series, which is lovely. It’s set in a pro-wrestling promotion, although currently I’m scratching my head trying to cram more wrestling in it. I’m also working on a new thing, which is a sort of 90s nostalgia mystery, and I’m enjoying it a lot. Remember VHS? Remember alcopops? What a (dreadful) time to be alive. Hopefully the newly announced Oasis tour will bring 90s nostalgia back with a bang.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
So far I’ve really enjoyed How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perrin, which was a fantastic take on a modern golden age mystery, and Stu Turton’s The Last Murder At The End Of The World, which is just another incomparable Stu Turnton scific speculative head-scratcher. Quickly, While They Still Have Horses is an amazing short story compilation that delves into the life and culture of Northern Ireland, by Jan Carson, which I loved reading recently.
For books coming out, after reading Dirty Laundry I’m well up for whatever Disha Bose writes next. I’ve recently read The Perfect Place by Amanda Cassidy, so I’m super excited to see her next one too. But something I definitely know is coming out soon: Mia P. Manansala’s Guilt And Ginataan (the lastest in her Tita Rosie’s Kitchen cosy mystery series) is out in November, and it’s one of my favourite mystery series ever.
